Ola Loa SPORT Drink

Test Series by Kurt Papke

Tester Information

Name:

Kurt Papke

Age:

56

Gender:

Male

Height:

6' 4" (193 cm)

Weight:

225 lbs (102 kg)

Email address:

kwpapke at gmail dot com

City, State, Country:

Tucson, Arizona USA

My backpacking background has mostly been in Minnesota where I have
lived
most of my adult life. My preferred/typical backpack
trip has been one week, mostly in the
Spring/Fall
seasons. I
recently moved to Tucson to take a new job, and am excitedly exploring
the surrounding mountain ranges. I am acclimating to the southern
Arizona climate where I find I have to force myself to drink copious
amounts of fluids to avoid dehydration. I normally carry powdered
electrolyte drink with me, and mix it at about half-strength when I am
hiking.
I normally take a daily multi-vitamin tablet.

Initial Report

Product Facts

Ola Loa has a line of four types of powdered drink mixes:

Energy: effervescent multi-vitamin-mineral-amino formula. A
one-a-day multivitamin that is drunk by dissolving in water instead of
taken in pill form.

REPAIR: effervescent multi-vitamin targeted for bone and joint
pain.

SPORT: hydration electrolyte drink with vitamins.

KIDS: drinkable multi-vitamin for children.

This review is for the sport
drink. Please see the parallel test report on the energy drink to
compare and contrast the information on that product.

2.75 in x 4 in (7 cm x 10.1 cm),
thickness was very small and highly irregular

Serving size
(1 packet)

4-6 oz (118-177 ml) of water

Quantity to be tested

30 packets of each flavor were
supplied

The discrepancy between measured and manufacturer's weight
specification appears to be the packaging, as an empty packet weighs
approximately 1 g (0.04 oz)

In the table below, all three flavors have the same nutritional
information, though the other ingredients do differ slightly. "*" in
the table indicates no recommended daily value has been established.

Notable in the table above are the low amount of calories and
sodium. I am accustomed to drinking Gatorade, which has much
higher sugar and salt content. Of course also notable are the
large variety of vitamins, minerals and amino acids. My hope is
drinking this stuff will be like Popeye having his can of spinach!

Initial Inspection

The picture above shows one package of the drink mix. They are
nicely compact and will pack into my backpacking food bag with no
issues.

Initial Experiences

The packets open easily with no tools -- they tear open with no
problems or spillage. The powder is easily poured into a water
bottle, even with a very small mouth, by forming the packet into a
V. I was able to pour the powder into a bottle without spilling
any powder in the process. The powder dissolved easily with just
a few shakes.

I followed my usual procedure and attempted to use the product without
first reading the instructions. I mixed it with 1 L (1 qt) of tap
water. The color seemed a little light, but pleasant. The
taste of the mango tangerine was pleasant, very slightly sweet, but
seemed very weak. I couldn't detect any of the effervescence.

Then I read the package instructions: it called for mixing with 4-6 oz
(118-177 ml) of water. I mixed a packet of the lemon lime with 4
oz (118 ml) of water,
and it frothed immediately, and dissolved with no problem with a quick
stir. I took a sip, and it had a very flavorful lemon-lime
tang. Yum. I quaffed the remainder with one big gulp.

First Impressions

I am really excited to test this product in the field. I have
difficulty staying hydrated in the extremely dry Tucson climate, and I
am hoping the nicely flavored sport drink will induce me to drink
more. My
initial thoughts include the following.

Kudos:

Packaged well for backpacking -- very compact.

The two flavors I've tried are delicious.

I won't have to worry about a vitamin deficiency.

Concerns:

I'll have to pack quite a bit of the powder. With as many
as 8 packets per liter of fluid, I'll have to carry quite a few with me
and stow the packaging material.

To drink at full strength, it would cost about US$8 per
liter. This is substantially more expensive than the powdered
electrolyte drinks I would normally use.

Please return to the site in about 3 months for
the Field Report when I've had a chance to use the drink mixes on
backpacking trips.

Field Report

Test Conditions

During the Field Report I used the Ola Loa Sport drink as my main
hiking hydration supplement. The product accompanied me on the
following hiking trips:

Date

November 14-15, 2009

December 5, 2009

December 6, 2009

January 1, 2010

February 27, 2010

March 1, 2010

March 3, 2010

March 5, 2010

March 6, 2010

Location

Saguaro National Park, just east
of Tucson, Arizona in the Rincon Mountains

Catalina State Park, Romero
Canyon Trail, northeast of Tucson in the Catalina Mountains

Saguaro National Park

Ever since I moved to Tucson I had good intentions of doing some
backpacking in Saguaro National Park. There are actually two
parts to this park, one on the west side of the city in the Tucson
Mountains, and one on the east side in the Rincon Mountains. I
heard the view from the Rincons was spectacular, so on the weekend of
November 14th I thought I'd give it a try.

I took one pre-mixed liter of the Sport drink with me on the trip and
drank it on the ascent, and brought two packets with me in my food bag
for the descent. In both cases I mixed two packets with 1 liter
of water, approximately half-strength from the product
recommendations. I found this strength worked pretty well for me,
with enough flavor that I did not tire from drinking plain water, yet
not so
strong that I felt I was over-dosing on vitamins and minerals and the
taste was not cloying.

Other Observations from Day Hikes

Ola Loa Sport in the Tortolitas - Lemon Lime flavor

On each of the day hikes listed in the above table I took 2 L of fluid,
1 L of water, and 1 L of Ola Loa Sport. In all cases I used 2
packets of powder to 1 L of water, and found this to be a nice amount
of flavor. I liked being able to choose between straight water
and the Sport drink on my hikes; sometimes I feel like flavor,
sometimes I feel like straight water.

On almost all hikes I finished my 2 L just before returning to the car
and trail head. I typically hike for two to three hours, and here
in the desert I will consume just under 1 L per hour on a vigorous hike.

Summary

Overall I enjoyed supplementing my daily dose of vitamins with a
good-tasting
hydration drink. I found the Ola Loa Sport drink to be very
refreshing.

Of the three flavors the Mango Tangerine was the first one to run out,
as it was clearly my favorite. After a morning run or other
workout I enjoyed mixing it with fresh orange juice in a 50% blend.

Next was the Lemon Lime flavor. I particularly liked this one for
the trail.

My least favorite was the Mixed Berry. The color and flavor
reminded me a bit of a tropical punch drink, which I do not personally
find particularly appetizing. As the cliche states "there is no
accounting for taste", and I wouldn't be surprised if someone else had
exactly the opposite opinion of the various tastes. Even though
it was my least favorite, I still had no problem consuming it on the
trail.

One of the questions I asked myself at the conclusion of the test was
"could I really detect a difference in how I felt as a result of the
vitamins and minerals in the drink?" It is very hard to
distinguish the "placebo effect" from a real difference in the impact
of the nutrients. All I can say for sure is I did feel good on
the trail after drinking Ola Loa Sport.

What I like about the product

Good-tasting drink

Nice bubbles

Powerful dose of vitamins, minerals and amino acids every time I
took a drink on the trail

Packaging works well for mixing up a drink bottle at home or on
the trail

What might be improved

Very spendy. At almost two dollars per liter I would find
it difficult to
justify the expense of the product unless I could feel certain
I was achieving a detectable increase in health and well-being from the
nutrients.

Many thanks to Ola Loa
and BackpackGearTest.org for the
opportunity to
test this product.

Product tested and reviewed in each Formal Test Report has been provided free of charge by the manufacturer to BackpackGearTest.org. Upon completion of the Test Series the writer is permitted to keep the product. Owner Reviews are based on product owned by the reviewer personally unless otherwise noted.